Christmas in Austin

We're back from another great visit.

My first attempt making tamales. Good thing there weren't any abuelitas watching me. I used shortening and butter instead of manteca.

Two dozen black bean. Two dozen chicken verde. Without the lard, they came out dry. I learned my lesson.

If only Callie was two inches taller...

Olivia showing me how to properly undress a dolly.

Erinn cooks

Well, this first one is just kind of cooking. These pigs-in-a-blanket are Pillsbury breadsticks wrapped around a mini sausage. She made 150 of these for treat day at school.


She made these sugar cookies from scratch and iced them herself. I helped by eating them.

Deck the Halls

Here are some holiday decor pics in case you are tired of Andrew's food. As I strung the lights, Andrew tried to capture "light movement" as he put it.

Winter's here (at night anyways)

We're getting some lows in the lower 40s at night so that means it's time for chili, soups and Erinn's favorite: Chicken Pot Pie.

This recipe comes from epicurious and can be found here.

One reason why I take so many pictures of food is because I need something to do while things cook, reduce, simmer, come to a boil. Plus, I always have the camera handy.

It's mirepoix, y'all. Carrots aren't in the recipe, but I like em. So in they go.


Fast forward 30 minutes and a couple more steps and you've got this.


Delicious, flaky pastry crust. So buttery and so good. I should've just baked up a second sheet and eaten it separately.


It did not cooperate coming out of the pyrex.

Still eating those chiles

Our freezer is slowly emptying of all the chiles. While we're eating mostly enchiladas out of em, I found a recipe that uses them in Crab Cakes. I'm sure science would claim eating one a day would keep the doctor away, until you had a heart attack.

pre-sauteed

pre-in-my-belly